BREAKING NEWS: Former SCC Chief Justice McLachlin’s departure from HK court after extending Singapore court tenure speaks volumes
By Julius Melnitzer | June 19, 2024 Former Supreme Court of Canada Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin has resigned from Hong Kong’s final court of appeal. She cited her desire to spend more time with her family as the reason for her departure. But all signs point to the fact that her resignation was prompted at […]
Too many “made for Twitter” decisions from the Supreme Court?
February 2, 2021| By Julius Melnitzer The Supreme Court of Canada’s growing tendency to dismiss appeals from the bench has been a subject of legitimate concern lately. As the Globe and Mail pointed out recently, the trend is accelerating: of late, the court has been releasing fewer in-depth reasons and a growing proportion of decisions […]
Does Black Friday have a “spirit”?
November 24, 2020 | By Julius Melnitzer Does Black Friday have a “spirit”? If so, spiritualism has come a long way in North American society. Yesterday, I saw an ad for a hearing aid in the Toronto Star. Four days before Black Friday, it promised to reduce prices 25% “in the spirit of Black Friday.” […]
Jones Day & Trump: Thank God for the lawyers
November 13, 2020 | By Julius Melnitzer Full disclosure: I hate Donald Trump. Further full disclosure: Democracy is lucky to have lawyers who will represent the jerk. I was among many who couldn’t believe what I was seeing and hearing in the last four years: disruption, disregard, disrespect, dishonesty, denigration, deflection and denial, all in […]
Will COVID turn lawyers from Luddites to leaders?
Lawyers are known for their resistance to change. But COVID-19 has forced a great deal of change, technological and otherwise, on the profession. The key question is whether the evolution will continue. And that’s where reluctance to change becomes an asset: after all, reluctance to change and reluctance to change back are, if you ask […]
Solicitor-client privilege could be next victim of the Panama Papers
Tuesday, March 27, 2018 Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the heart of the Panama Papers scandal, is closing its doors at the end of March. But its legacy, a full-frontal attack on lawyers, looms large. It’s a matter of optics. So far, there’s scant evidence of criminal activity by lawyers in relation to the […]
B is for ‘bachelor,’ not progress
Monday, June 10, 2019 No question about it, diversity and gender equality are all the rage in the profession — and it’s the clients that are driving the horses, with in-house counsel expected to lead both by way of example and by way of shutting out law firms who aren’t sensitive enough to the call. […]
In-house counsel should lead charge against legal aid cuts
The deafening silence from in-house counsel and their professional associations about the Ford government’s $130 million in cuts to Legal Aid Ontario is nothing less than shameful. While it’s true that the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) has launched a social media campaign (#LegalAidMatters) to rally the profession to the cause, and all 13 CBA branch […]